Speculations/theories on Reavers and the role they play.

POSTED BY: Candall
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 22:25
VIEWED: 10803
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SHINYSEVEN

Thursday, June 17, 2004 4:32 PM

1. There's a Faulkner novel called The Reivers, so it's probably an off-hand literary reference among other things.
2. I really hope they don't have Reavers in the movie in the sense of actually showing them--they're much scarier not being shown.
3. Good point about "savages" and "scalping"--I suspect that actually nobody really knows very much about Reavers, the stories just keep getting scarier
4. Psychoses manifest themselves differently in different societies--Reavers could be what they have instead of, e.g., ritualistic serial killers

"Sadistic crap legitimized by florid prose"

JCOBB

Thursday, June 17, 2004 5:13 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by TheFerryMan:

Inara had her little death serum ready

I seem to remember watching the commentary on it, and, if I remember correctly, that wasn't death serum. Merely something they were going to elaborate on later in the show, (an addiction perhaps?) but never got the opportunity to. (I think I remember one of the commentators saying that it actually worked out well because many people that it was a suicide kit.

I don't care, I'm still free.

CANDALL

Thursday, June 17, 2004 5:21 PM

I get the impression that Mal has actually seen Reavers before, as he does understand their patterns and characteristics. I also get the impression that he hasn't been very close to one, since the idea that he walks around being all alive is made pretty clear as well. He knew that the man who'd been "turned" would start to defile his flesh, just like the Reavers do. The "defiling" appeared to me like tribal decoration. Lots of piercings with heavy objects.

If I'm right, and the Reavers are psychic, then they could have easily taken the entire ship without much of a struggle since they knew where the people were and the people had no idea where they were.

HOTPOINT

Thursday, June 17, 2004 7:08 PM

My theory would be a bit less esoteric than some.

Reavers are colonists/explorers who found themselves cut off from supplies and eventually resorted to cannibalism to survive.

Over time, and partially to obtain a bit of legitimacy to their lifestyle, the eating of human flesh and the keeping of trophies became a cultural ritualistic thing (hence the wearing of human skin).

Even once other less gruesome sources of food became available, thanks to the rising number of terraformed worlds, the Reaver "Blood Cult" was too established to end.

They're religious fanatics!

...................................
Hurrah, hurrah, when things are at their worst
With cries of “Death or Glory” comes the mighty Twenty-First

HIGHIRON02

Thursday, June 17, 2004 7:54 PM

My theory is somewhat more simplified.

Alliance = Rock

Reavers = Hard Place

Serenity is somewhere in the middle

We got you partially surrounded.

GUNRUNNER

Thursday, June 17, 2004 8:37 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hotpoint:
My theory would be a bit less esoteric than some.

Reavers are colonists/explorers who found themselves cut off from supplies and eventually resorted to cannibalism to survive.

Over time, and partially to obtain a bit of legitimacy to their lifestyle, the eating of human flesh and the keeping of trophies became a cultural ritualistic thing (hence the wearing of human skin).

Even once other less gruesome sources of food became available, thanks to the rising number of terraformed worlds, the Reaver "Blood Cult" was too established to end.

They're religious fanatics!

...................................
Hurrah, hurrah, when things are at their worst
With cries of “Death or Glory” comes the mighty Twenty-First

I've been thinking the same thing only that they were military folk on very remote outposts or people from one of the colony transports that left Earth-That-Was and got lost.

Now if you watch Bushwhacked you will hear Kaylee say "The Port Thrust is gone that’s what making her spin." So the transport ship was missing a thruster so it couldn't maneuver away or out run the Reaver ship. Also I think that the Magnetic Grappler is the same tech as the Junker's Net in OMR, Mal in Serenity "If they get a bead they'll lock us down" Book OMR "Some of the newer ones will just hold you" sounds a lot alike to me.

Oh and is just me or was Jayne loading that double barrel shot gun in Serenity to kill him self, it seems to me that if he was going to fight the Reavers he would have loaded one of those SMGs or automatic pistols that are next to his bunk.

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LUPINADDAMS

Thursday, June 17, 2004 8:49 PM

Er, guys... the name Reavers is a little older than X-Men.

The origin of the term Reavers (or, Reivers to use the Gaelic preferred spelling) is from the Borders of Scotland, referring to a group of feuding families and clans who carried out cross-border raids, cattle rustling, kidnap for blackmail (according to some sourses, they coined the term) and other shenannigans from the early 14th to 16th Centuries. Oddly, their code of honour and fierce independance from both Scotland and England make them far more like the Serenity crew than Joss's Reavers!

A Google search will give you a lot of nice variations on the resulting legend.

(I only know this as one of my true loves is from the Borders herself!)

"You are what you do."
Andrew Vacchs

PURPLEBELLY

Thursday, June 17, 2004 8:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by GunRunner:
it seems to me that if he was going to fight the Reavers he would have loaded one of those SMGs or automatic pistols that are next to his bunk.

And his hands might be steadier. Of course those who see Jayne as Hero rather than a blustering bully will try to tell you different ...

PURPLEBELLY

Thursday, June 17, 2004 9:08 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by LupinAddams:
Er, guys... the name Reavers is a little older than X-Men.

Not to forget their role in the Ulster Plantations, with reverberations to this day ...

The names of some of the Riding Clans are familar over the Atlantic, too; Nixon, Johnson, Graham, Armstrong.

PIERSNICA

Thursday, June 17, 2004 9:32 PM

Reavers.

I'm sort of fascinated by reavers. My take on them; they're just humans cut loose at the fringes of space and went mad. I like that they've not been shown, and I hope they never show one; scarier that way. They're clearly the "injuns" in this modern space-western, but I think what they're supposed to represent is the innate depravity present in humanity.

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